This All Started With A (Not So) Stupid Dare
by marykayle
Summary: Adrien loses the bet to Nino, and Nino dares him to kiss Marinette in front of the entire class. And maybe, just maybe, it could have taken the intended path, if not for the fact that Adrien knows Ladybug's identity. It becomes a complete mess after she also discovers his.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I have a poll at my profile, please answer. I am interested in some kind of map for ML fans. Enjoy and leave your reviews!;)

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Nino, choose another dare!"

"Nope. You lost the bet, Adrien. You owe me a dare."

"Yes, but not this one!"

"Why not? Does kissing Marinette disgusts you so much? You were not opposed to kissing her when we were making a film. What changed?"

"Nothing! It's not that I don't want to kiss her, I don't want to do it in front of the entire class! If you dared me to simply kiss her, I would have found the opportunity and apologize later. But this? Not only when everyone is watching, but with a follow-up cheesy line?! She is extremely shy around me, this only will completely ruin her attitude towards me! I still want to be friends with her, Nino!"

Adrien and Nino were arguing like that for about five minutes. Adrien lost a bet - it was silly, really - which Nino provoked him to take. Of course, it was his and Alya's common idea to help their two friends get together, and they found what seemed to them a good solution.

"Fine," sighed Adrien at last. "I'll do it. Why Marinette, anyways?"

Nino smirked. "Dude, do you want it to be Chloé instead? I can arrange that..."

"NOOO!" Adrien screamed in horror. "Anyone except Chloé!"

"Aren't you even a little into Marinette?" asked Nino with concern.

Adrien blushed and said nothing.

Marinette was running late. Again. Of course. It didn't even surprise her. She burst in the classroom and tripped over her feet, falling right between the teacher and Adrien's desk with a quiet 'oww'. Her classmates smiled at her clumsiness, several tried to suppress giggles. But not Chloé, obviously.

"Ohh, Sabrina, look, poor Marinette, always tripping over nothing, how does she even survive? So pathetic!"

"Chloé!" snapped Ms. Mendeleiv at her. She turned her attention to Marinette. "Come in, take your place. Try not to be late the next time, or you'll receive an hour detention after classes."

Marinette silently sat near Alya, who patted her on the back.

"It's nothing, girl, just ignore her as usual."

"It's not that, Alya," sighed the bluenette. I tripped in front of Adrien. He must be thinking I am a complete clutz and ends up avoiding me at all costs, and we'll never get married and have three children and a hamster!" She dropped her head on the crossed arms too hard with another 'oww'.

Chloé couldn't miss such a chance.

"Second time in two minutes, Marinette? Must be a new world record of your super awkwardness!"

Ms. Mendeleiv once more shushed the blonde. Nino elbowed Adrien.

"Hey, dude, remember the bet?"

"Yeah, yeah," reassured him Adrien. "I'm just waiting for the right moment. After all, I wouldn't fulfill your dare in the middle of the lesson!"

Finally the bell rang. Adrien mentally prepared himself for inevitable. Just as he was about to raise up and come closer to the girl, he heard Kim's voice behind.

"Hey, Marinette, we are up to another challenge with Alix. Do you want to come and watch? Maybe you could draw some awesome banner for the event?"

No, it wasn't flirting. Neither there were any romantic intentions, just a simple friendly request. However, Adrien already knew that in these circumstances he would seem very jealous and possessive of Marinette for no reason at all. But he also knew that he had his courage only now.

Marinette merely had time to respond 'sure' before she spotted Adrien. He was definitely approaching her. Oh god, her mind screamed, he is coming to me, what does he want?

"A-Adrien?" she stuttered. "Wha..."

Her words were interrupted the most pleasant way possible. Adrien didn't even give her time to finish before capturing her lips with his.

Marinette stood for a second frozen in shock, then started to respond, fully into the kiss. What is happening, she internally screamed. 'It's Adrien and he is kissing me!' was the thought in the corner off her brain. But FAMILIARFAMILIARFAMILIAR was the only thing circling in her mind, though she was 100% sure they never kissed before. This is not how I wanted this to happen, was her last clear thought before Adrien broke the kiss.

Marinette felt like she was going to faint. Adrien, seemingly deciding to help her with that and spin her mind completely, winked at her.

"Hey, Princess, guess I simply couldn't resist your charms!" he declared with a huge grin on his face.

The girl's legs betrayed her, and she collapsed (by mere miracle) right on her seat, looking at the model with wide eyes, not daring to blink. However, he was already gone back to his seat and started writing something very quickly.

The rest of the class was silent for another several moments, and then they broke into cheers. Both teens chose to ignore the others. It was pure luck that Chloé went to the bathroom with Sabrina to fix her hair and didn't get to see the whole encounter.

Marinette still was in shock when the bell rang. She wasn't paying attention to the lesson or to anything around her for that matter until Adrien slipped the note to her with the most adorable apologetic expression.

She unwrapped the paper.

'Marinette,' it read, 'I am extremely guilty and extremely sorry for this. The thing is that I lost a bet to Nino and he was very persistent for me to fulfill exactly this dare. I don't know the reason behind it, and I apologize sincerely for forcing you into this. Please forgive me and Nino for that matter.'

The note contained tons of crossed out lines. The bluenette smiled to herself - despite this being a stupid dare, she got the chance to kiss Adrien and he obviously cared for her judging by the efforts he put into the note.

Adrien was innocent, she decided. Well, not completely, but still, she couldn't find the strength to be mad at him. Nino, from the other hand...

When the final bell rang, Alya and Nino inconspicuously excused themselves and left the classroom with the speed of lighting. Marinette was still utterly confused, so it took a lot of time to gather her belongings. By the time she packed her things, she was the only person left in the classroom. Well, practically the only.

Adrien Agreste was patiently waiting for her.

"Marinette! Look, I'm so sorry! Maybe I could make it up to you somehow?"

"Kiss me better," she blurted out what was on the tip of her tongue without even thinking as the words automatically flew out of her mouth.

Before she could even process what she just said, his lips were on hers.


	2. Chapter 2

2/? Why? Was the only question spinning in Marinette's mind that evening. Why did Adrien Agreste kissed her the second time immediately after her request? She didn't know.

Because Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir, who loved Ladybug, was not the answer someone could offer her. But adding 'who accidentally discovered her identity a couple of weeks ago' would definitely help the case.

An accident was something you could expect. Because if you have a feline partner with an unexplainable love for rooftops and if you're about to detransform into your civilian self, you should remember not only looking around, but also checking the upper levels.

Being an embodiment of bad luck, Chat Noir was actually surprised that he didn't fall off that damned roof right on the spot.

It didn't take so much to get used to the knowledge. After all, it was not hard to believe that his lady and his brave Princess were one the same. However, when he looked at it from Adrien's point of view... They were nothing alike, judging by the character.

So Adrien decided to keep his secret to himself.

Of course, he was in panic when he heard Nino's dare. He didn't want to push himself on Marinette. He was afraid she would never forgive him. When he told Plagg about it, the kwami only chuckled, claiming that Adrien was the most oblivious person in the world.

For goodness sake, he couldn't figure out what Plagg meant.

The kiss with her was as amazing as he imagined. She tasted something delicious, he couldn't understand what exactly, she smelled like fresh baked treats, and she was an amazing kisser. She didn't even protest, though he was afraid she would slap him for the invasion in privacy and hate till the ends of her days.

However, when Marinette blurted out that magical 'kiss me better', everything clicked. Adrien didn't even hesitate before kissing her for the second time that day.

Now he was lying on the couch in his bedroom with the only thought: what's next?

The next morning was hard for both of them. Neither could bring himself to look at the another.

Marinette was shy.

Adrien was angry.

Angry with himself, of course. He could never be angry with his lady without any reasons behind. It was unfair, he thought, for him to know her identity, and for her not to. It was unfair that while he loved both her sides, she still liked only Adrien.

She needed to know.

No, she would be angry that he didn't tell her sooner.

But she needed to know.

But she would be angry. Ugh.

That's it! The thought striked him. He'll let her figure his identity as if by accident. Than it wouldn't count. And he had to do it quickly. Adrien thought he couldn't bear much time with things like that.

Think, he encouraged himself.

The opportunity presented itself during the lunch break. The teacher asked him to help her with a huge pile of books. Unfortunately, the amount of the said books limited his vision pretty much, so no wonder he bumped into the doorway. The books went flying to the floor with the papers on top of the pile. Adrien wasn't careful enough, and one of the sheets left him a scratch on the cheek. It wasn't too deep, but the angle was nearly ninety degrees, which made the scratch quite noticeable.

Only when his classmates showed deep concern, and Marinette especially - she examined the injury for a solid minute, helping to reduce its visibility, - he saw it as a dead giveaway of his identity.

Adrien couldn't wait to start the patrol.

When Ladybug joined her partner, the scratch was the first thing that she asked about. He honestly told her it was just his luck to be cut like this by a sheet of paper and watched her face as she slowly made the connection.

Recognition. Connecting the dots. Disbelief. Surprise. Shock. The world turning upside down. Flashing memories. Denial.

Wait, what?

He needed to interfere.

"What's up, my lady? What is so shocking about the cut? It'll be okay in a couple of days, I purr-omise."

"Ad-Chat. It's nothing, let's start patrolling."

"But my lady, something is definitely bothering you!" He couldn't believe she won't tell him ! But, from the other hand, he didn't, either.

"Chaton, it's okay. Just some civilian stuff."

"Maybe I could help you? Since you'll be avoiding revealing details?"

Ladybug seemed to doubt. Finally, she gave in.

"Okay, so there's a boy in my school I really like." She paused. I hope it's me, he thought. I hope I was not mistaken. "And yesterday he kissed me. Not because he wanted, it was just a stupid dare." Oh thank god. Not that I doubted. Nope. "But the thing is, he kissed me once more later. Without any pressing matters. I hope it means he likes me, but I'm confused. Today he didn't even speak to me..."

"But of course I like you, my lady," blurted out Chat. "Never doubt that."

She glanced at him with utter horror on her face.

"How long have you known?"

Only here he realized what he said. But there was no backing up now.

"Umm... Maybe for a couple of weeks?"

"And you never told me..." she whispered, launching herself away.

"My lady, wait!" Chat tried to stop her, but it was in vain.

He sat on the roof. What made her THIS upset, that she won't even talk everything out, he wondered.

Realization dawned on him like a bucket of ice water.

"My lady... I called her my lady the entire time, and now she thinks I like her only because she is Ladybug..."

Chat Noir stood up.

"Marinette, I'll prove you that I like the girl behind the mask on her own."

Even if it was going to take quite an amount of efforts to reach the girl in denial. He's a hero, after all, he'll manage. Hopefully.


	3. Chapter 3

"Alya?.."

"What, Nino?"

"Do you think we pushed them too far?"

"I... don't think so," answered the journalist hesitatingly. "He kissed her the second time on his own free will, didn't he?"

"Yeah... You know, it looks like they are moving with their relationship a little TOO quickly. First kiss, then first fight already! At this point I won't be surprised if he'll propose in the next few days!"

Though Nino meant it as a joke, knowing Adrien it was quite possible.

"I wonder what's the matter..." muttered Alya.

It was three days from their kiss in front of everyone, and now Adrien and Marinette wouldn't even talk. Well, Adrien tried to reach for her, but Marinette avoided him at all costs.

Neither Alya nor Nino could understand. When Alya asked Marinette, she received only 'he doesn't love me', and Marinette refused to provide her with any further details. When Nino asked Adrien, his only answer was 'she is very angry at me', and the model didn't bother to explain more.

Their best friends were confused.

"Honestly, we're so lucky that our relationship isn't so complicated," declared Nino, leaning closer to Alya. She pushed him back.

"Now's not the time! We tied this knot between them, so we are up to untangle it! If only not for this stupid dare..."

"If not," interrupted Nino, "they would probably never get together. At least now we have some progress!"

"Uh-uh. You meant regress? Because before they at least talked to each other!"

"Babe, we'll fix this, I'm sure..."

"How?" Alya was desperate. "We don't even know the reason of their silence! Marinette claims that Adrien doesn't love her, Adrien states she is angry with him! And they won't even explain this profusely!"

"That's it!" Nino fist bumped into the air. "Alya, you are a genius! The problem is in some huge misunderstanding, it's not about feelings! So... We help Adrien and Marinette to sort everything out, et voila! They are a couple," he finished with a huge grin.

"Yeah, but you're forgetting one tiny detail," Alya was quick to disappoint him. "We know nothing about this misunderstanding."

Patrol was not easy to start for Marinette. She felt betrayed. Why didn't Chat tell her that he knew her secret identity? Maybe he only loved Ladybug and Marinette was a disappointment, her mind whispered...

Ladybug landed on their usual meeting roof. She needed to collect herself. Needed not to be a disaster as her second identity, too.

A clawed hand softly landed on her shoulder. The heroine couldn't even find find the strength to move. Chat Noir hesitatingly sat in front of her.

"Marinette, my lady, why are you crying? What happened?"

She was crying? Huh, she didn't even notice. Ladybug wiped off the tears with a gloved hand. Wow, she really cried a lot. The girl only hid her head in the knees.

"Go away, Chat. It's none of your business."

"But we are partners, we are supposed to help each other and sort our problems, my lady."

Ladybug bit her lower lip. Deep inhale. Raise the head. Look your partner in the eyes. So green and soft and comforting and kind and... No! Not the time.

"There's nothing to discuss, kitty," she forced a smile. "You love Ladybug and not the girl behind the mask. And there's nothing you can do about it."

"That's not true!"

She sighed.

"You don't love Ladybug then? Quite expectingly since she turned out to be a disaster as her civilian self." She stood up. "I take the east side of the city, you take the west."

The heroine was off before Chat could stop her. Well, he thought dejectedly, if plan A didn't work, it's time for a plan B: explain everything in civilian forms.

"Well?"

"I'm thinking, Nino, don't interrupt me."

"But babe, you've been at the same point, like, an hour ago! Come on, either you have any ideas or you need a break," Nino wiggled his eyebrows at Alya and leant closer.

"Okay," she finally put everything that could help her with solving Adrienette mystery aside and leaned in to kiss her boyfriend. "But I also have Ladyblog to take care o-mmmph!" Nino silenced her with the second kiss.

"Ladyblog can wait for one evening. Besides, your favorite Ladynoir is not likely to happen." Another kiss. "They got in a fight, just like our friends, and aren't even on speaking terms." A deeper kiss. "What is it recently between everyone to argue so badly? Neither Adrien and Marinette nor Ladybug and Chat Noir got into a serious fight earlier. Hell, neither of them ever even got in the fights! Except for the first day at school, of course."

"WAIT." Alya sat straight in her seat. Some gears were turning in her heads, Nino could tell, as she in complete mess started doing something on her computer. She opened the Ladyblog and chose the most clear picture of Ladybug and Chat Noir during one of the interviews. Clicked 'print it'.

"Oh my god, oh my god," she repeated under her breath. Then she scrolled through the saved photos, looking for something, and chose the picture where she, Marinette, Nino and Adrien were posing in a 'spy' mode. Clicked 'print it'.

When the printer finished its work, the journalist put two photos near each other and practically immediately let out a scream.

Nino's eyes widened, and he put his hand on Alya's mouth to stop her from waking all the neighbors.

"OH. MY. GOD." Alya whispered-screamed once her boyfriend let her go. "Nino, look here."

"Okay, so we have a picture of two superheroes and of us pretending to be super cool superheroes. So what?"

Alya let out a muffled scream in frustration and took a pencil in her hands. A minute later she returned a picture of four of them to Nino. Adrien and Marinette had the masks sketched on their faces, and Adrien had an extra of cat ears.

"Dude."

"Yes, Nino?"

"Dude."

"What?"

"You're a freaking genius, but that's impossible."

"Why not?" She seemed offended. "Look here." Alya scrolled through her pictures and proudly presented Nino a photoshopped Chat Noir's suit on Adrien. Nino mumbled something inaudible. But Alya didn't stop. She opened a photo editor, uploaded Ladybug's photo and erased a mask.

Nino was at a loss of words.

"Okay," stated Alya. "Now we at least can guess their problem. I'm so gonna kick their stupid aces!" she yelled angrily.

A/N: Idk where it goes. I have exams and instead I'm writing this. Save me Oo


	4. Chapter 4

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng!"

The said girl froze on the school stairs like a deer caught in the headlights. She slowly turned her head around to see who this angry voice belonged to.

Nino was furiously approaching her. She never saw him like that. Marinette couldn't help but wonder what she has done to deserve his anger. Poor girl couldn't recall.

"We have a lot to talk about, young lady!" declared Nino as he came closer. It was so unlike him that Marinette barely could snap out of her initial shock. What on earth was happening?

"Nino?" The bluenette gave him a very confused look. "What's the matter?"

"You tell me! What happened between you and Adrien that you won't even give him a chance to talk to you and explain everything?"

"It's none of your business, Nino." She let him know she didn't want to talk.

"Then what has happened between you and Chat Noir, huh, Ladybug? And don't think that you could present it as two different problems, because they aren't!"

"WHAT?!" The girl was beyond terrified.

"I asked you about your fight with Chat Noir. And yes, I called you Ladybug. There's no way out until I can hear from you what's the matter between you guys." Nino was slowly calming down. "I suppose that you have no other choice than to tell me everything I wanna hear."

Marinette blinked a couple of times.

"Okay then," she sighed. "Guess I really have no choice... See, Chat discovered my identity a couple of weeks ago and he didn't tell me he knew until I discovered who he is. He loves only Ladybug, Nino," she said bittersweet, "not the girl behind the mask. Of course, how could I be anything more than a disappointment for him? It's just... I love all of him, and he loves only one side... Though I doubt even that. It's simply not fair for him to be with Ladybug if he doesn't like her civilian self!" Marinette felt a tear streaming down her face.

"...Dude."

"What?" She asked dejectedly.

"Dude."

"...?" She gave him a pointed glare.

"You're wrong. Please let my man prove you wrong. It's not an impossible request, is it?"

Maybe it won't be so much harm in it, she thought.

"... Okay. I promise."

"Adrien Agreste!"

The boy stopped dead in tracks and tensed his shoulders before turning around to the source of an angry voice.

Oh no. Not Alya. Everyone but Alya. Because this girl knew how to be scary, and now she was fuming. Adrien prayed to all gods to survive whatever Alya was going to throw on him.

"Here you are! Care to explain what happened between you and Marinette?!"

"I'm afraid it's not your concern, Alya," he answered cautiously. "I have to go now, so if you'll excuse me..."

He tried to sneak off. Alya's words, however, made him change his mind.

"And where do you think are you going, huh, Chat Noir? It's not like Ladybug is waiting for you, because last time I checked, you were in the fight, just like with Marinette. Pretty funny coincidence, isn't it?"

"W-What are you talking about?" he managed to answer.

"Oh, you heard me pretty well with all your cat hearing! Agreste, I'm so gonna kick your butt if you NOW wouldn't take your ass here and explain! Me! Everything!"

He came closer with a look of a guilty cat on his features. You better not argue with Alya in this state.

"...Okay... Though I don't like it at all!" Alya gave him a death glare. "Basically, it's nothing to talk about: I discovered her identity a couple of weeks ago and didn't tell her. Then there was this kiss, then she discovered my identity, then she thought I only love a Ladybug side of her, which is so not true! And she stopped talking to me and didn't even give me a chance to sort this out and now she must hate me and we'll probably never end up being together and..."

"Woah there, slow down," Alya was less furious now. "Nino will get her to talk to you, so you'd better think of the points which should prove her wrong."

Adrien inhaled sharply.

"Okay, Alya, thanks, I guess?" She hummed something in appreciation. "I suppose you guys understand that secret identity is secret for a reason and are smart enough to keep your knowledge to yourself." Alya shot him a 'do-you-think-we-are-idiots' look. "May I ask you though? How did you find out?"

"Oh, just. You never fight. And here you are, not even on speaking terms as both yourselves and your alter-egos. Honestly, if Nino didn't mention this fact, your identities would stay secret. But, you know, that's exactly what he did." She smiled at the memory. "And not only that helped us..."

/The previous evening...

"We need to get them talk to each other! Now that we know that they are our favorite superhero's duo, we have a huge benefit! We need a good plan, Nino!"

"I'm afraid that once they hear about us knowing their identities, they would switch on their 'superhero' mode and threaten us not to tell anyone," replied Nino. "And we still won't get to the point and loose our benefit."

"So what do you propose?" asked Alya.

"We should be scarier from the beginning. Like we are really furious on them for their actions, or better be said, for the lack of them. I hope it would work at least."

"Maaaybeee..." Alya tapped her chin in thought. "But Marinette is used to me being angry, so I'm afraid it wouldn't have the desired effect."

"Oh, well then... Oh! Got it! Let's switch roles. You're talking to Adrien and I'm confronting Marinette! How does that sound?"

"Perfect!" His girlfriend broke in a huge devilish smile and leaned in to kiss him. "Come on, now that we are finished with our genius matchmaking, we still have time left for ourselves."

Nino only supported her suggestion with another kiss./

Marinette bumped into Adrien in the hallway. With her own clumsiness, she wasn't even surprised.

"Marinette, we need to talk, please!" Adrien called for her.

Well, she promised. Collect yourself, you don't want to burst into tears or be an easy pray for the akuma because of a simple rejection, she thought.

"Okay. Look, I still want us to be partners no matter what. I realize that my behavior was inappropriate, and I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you, it was just really a lot to take in. Forgive me please if you can..."

"Of course, Marinette, my lady. I could never be angry at you. I understand your state. See, when I found out you were Ladybug, it wasn't hard to believe that you indeed were one the same. You share a lot of common features, you know that? Everything that I love in Ladybug is also present in Marinette." She looked at him with no expression on her face. "I love you, I really do, whether we speak about Marinette or Ladybug. I'll do anything only to make you believe that it's true. I love you."

Marinette closed her eyes for a second and flashed a sad smile. She opened the eyes and stared in his. Just like two days ago, they were very gentle, comforting, kind and had that warm green color.

"I believe you," she finally whispered. And I love you. All of you. I was just so scared that you won't love plain girl like - mmmph!"

He kissed her with all love and adoration he could find. And when she responded with equal passion, he knew that everything was going to be okay. The kiss turned into a hungrier one, it screamed 'mineminemine' and clouded all his thoughts. When they broke the kiss, even Chloé screaming in the distance couldn't ruin his euphoria state. Mine, still echoed in his mind.

"Marry me," he blurted out without thinking. Marinette lost her ability to speak. "That's not..! It just slipped out, I didn't mean... Only if you're not against! No! What I mean is -" The best way to shut him up was to kiss him, Marinette figured out.

Alya and Nino fistbumped around the corner. This was (so not) piece of cake, after all.

A/N: hey guys, this is over now! Tell me what you think! And please send me what country are you from if it's not shown in your profile - I'm making kind of ML fan map. (P.S. I am really surprised at the variations of the countries, like literally ML is trending in every corner of the planet!)


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